


Ignite Me

by clovermonkey



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam's Spirit, Allura & Keith (Voltron) Friendship, Allura & Shiro (Voltron) Friendship, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Crystal Magic, Crystals, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Dragons, Dream Magic, Elemental Magic, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fire, Fire Magic, Gardens & Gardening, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, M/M, Magic, Magic-Users, Magical Accidents, Magical Artifacts, Magical Tattoos, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Orphan Keith (Voltron), POV Keith (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt is Savage, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Sea Magic, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Spirit Guides, Spirit Magic, Spirits, Tech Magic, Technology, Weather, Weather Magic, Wicca, Witch Curses, Witchcraft, Witches, draconian magic, garden magic, hearth magic, kitchen magic, lunar magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-06-27 16:39:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15689298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clovermonkey/pseuds/clovermonkey
Summary: Ever since his mom, a powerful draconian witch, disappeared, Keith has been searching for dragons in order to find her. However, he doesn't expect that after years of looking evidence of another dragon would appear in the form of a life-draining spell on a boy named Lance.Or; Keith is a draconian witch and Lance has been touched by un umbral dragon who is draining his life away. Keith is his only hope for surviving, and he refuses to let Lance die, no matter the cost.





	1. Where Cupid's Torch Got New Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter titles based off Shakespeare's Sonnets 153 & 154 
> 
> Inspired by aknightley's 'calling me to come back'! I loved this fic so much and I've been wanting to write a witch au for a long time so this finally got me to do some research and write!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a prologue. It gets really good really quick in the second chapter, I promise xx

_I search through the fog for a soul. The fog is thick and a color indescribable in conscious thought. A soul is different, light and full of air. Its aura would be unique and blinding to conscious eyes. I have searched through this fog repeatedly throughout the years for any sign of one but have had no luck. At least, ever since I was young, but I wasn't searching then. It had all been chance._

_Now, as I push and trudge through the suffocating fog, my eyes latch onto something. A color. A burning red, pulsating far away. I hurry closer. It's a big explosion of colors: in the center it's black, then a glowing red bleeds into a piercing blue. It radiates heat, but it freezes my soul, seizing it in a chokehold of already dying hopes._

_It's a soul that is familiar. The same one I found as a kid._

It's the one that belongs to my mentor, my companion, and the royal pain-in-my-ass. The one that's been glued to my side ever since I found it.

"Kaida, come on, we've talked about this," I sigh heavily, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration, "you need to stop interrupting my prayers."

The black, winged cat meows indignantly, perched directly in front of me. "We've also talked about your tendencies to overwork yourself, Keith. You and I both know you weren't simply praying."

I huff and stand up, extinguishing the burning essences and candles that surround me with a simple flick of my wrist. "And?" I mumble, sulking away from him.

He pounces back into view, though, walking alongside me on the kitchen counter as I make my way to the fridge, "Keith, you were trying to reach to other dragons. You  _know_ most other dragons aren't as. . . friendly. . . as I am."

"Yeah," I snort, rolling my eyes, "You're the friendliest of the bunch, aren't you?" I take a water bottle and open it, taking several gulps before continuing. "I know about other dragons being more dangerous - you never shut up about it - but I'm being careful, okay? Have a little-"

"Stop right there," the cat interrupts, pinching his eyes closed. "If you tell me to 'have a little faith', I  _will_ light you on fire. The last time I heard that, you burnt that whole park to the ground."

Frowning, I jump up on the counter to sit beside him. "Fine," I relent, knowing Kai won't stop pestering me about it until he gets what he wants, "I'll hold off on reaching out to other dragons."

"Like. . .?" he trails off, baiting me.

"Like we agreed," I finish for him with another eyeroll. We sit in comfortable silence while I finish the water bottle and absently scratch at the black fur on top of his head. My eyes glide absently over the digital clock on the oven but they widen at the time. "Shit, it's almost seven-thirty," I mutter, hopping down and hurrying into my bedroom.

"I was wondering when you'd remember."

My lip curls in annoyance at the smug voice. "Didn't care to remind me, I assume?" He doesn't reply as I scramble to grab my jacket, wallet, keys, and sneakers. "Come on, we have to go."

"Forgetting something else?" Kaida chirps behind me. I turn, hand hovering over the doorknob, and see him on the counter resting a paw on my cell phone.

I huff and grab it from him. "Thanks. Now, come on, Shiro's gonna be pissed," I say, walking out the door with him hurrying with me. I lock the door behind me while he trots leisurely to the elevator.

While waiting for the elevator to get to the first floor, I tug on my sneakers and jacket. Kai speaks up again, "You're wearing  _that_ to an important outing?"

"It's not like I had time to change," I frown down at my black joggers and the maroon t-shirt beneath my leather jacket, "Besides, it's really not an important outing."

"But Shiro said-"

"Yeah, it's important, but it's not the type of important outing to dress formally," I shrug, zipping up my jacket as the elevator door opens. As we head outside together in the brisk weather toward my motorcycle, I check my phone. Shiro texted a while ago asking if I left yet. I quickly reply an apology and that I'm on my way now. Kaida hops onto the side compartment while I start the engine. It only takes a few minutes to get to Shiro's house. I knock on the door nervously.

Last week, Shiro begged me to attend a small get together with some of his other friends tonight. I knew about these get togethers already; every Saturday night Shiro and his friends had a big movie night where they ate food and played games throughout the night until they passed out. I only know because Shiro has been inviting me since they started this tradition. Each time I turned down the offer, not wanting to intrude on  _their_ plans when they didn't even know me. However, Shiro told his friends about me and now  _they_ insist I join them, too. Seeing as though this is basically a sleepover with strangers, I am still hesitant to attend. I try to console myself with the fact that only half of the people will be strangers.

"Keith!" Shiro beams when the door opens. "Come in, everyone's excited to meet you."

I step inside, glaring out of the corner of my eye at Kaida who lets out a soft snicker only loud enough for me to hear at Shiro's comment. "Hey, there, Kaida," he smiles at the cat perched on my shoulder.

"Hello," he greets, but Shiro only hears it as a meow.

"He says, 'hello'," I translate, kicking off my shoes into a large pile of others. I spot a pair of large worn sneakers, two navy blue sandals, dark purple wedges, and some familiar small black leather boots. "Is Pidge here?" I ask, pointing to the boots. The only way I know the boots are hers is because of the iron-on patch she added herself to customize them: a green, leafy vine.

"Yeah, she comes most weekends," Shiro responds, heading through the hallway.

As we walk, voices become increasingly clear. The uneasiness in my stomach builds as we make our way to the living room and Kaida senses it. He nudges his head into mine gently. "Calm down, child. Shiro is confident you'll fit in and he knows you better than anyone. Trust him," he hums quietly. 

"Thank you," I whisper in return.

We enter the open space that includes both the kitchen and the living room. Four people, including Pidge, are huddled around the kitchen island on barstools debating loudly on who knows what while a movie plays in the background past them. "Guys," Shiro says, catching their attention. "This is Keith, the one I told you all about."

"Hi, Keith," the three strangers say, out of unison.

"I was wondering when you'd finally come around," Pidge smirks.

I manage half a smile, "Hey."

Shiro approaches them. "So, this is Hunk," he starts, resting his hand on the shoulder of the biggest one.

"Hey," he grins warmly. He's wearing a faded orange long-sleeved shirt that compliments his dark skin tone well and gray lounge pants. He also has a brown headband holding back his longer hair.

"This is Allura," Shiro continues, setting his mechanical hand on the girl sitting beside Hunk.

She has long, silvery white hair pulled into what was once a neat bun, dark skin, and bright blue eyes. And a British accent that's clear when she says, "Hello!" In contrast to everyone else, she is wearing business clothes: a black pencil skirt and a lavender blouse only halfway tucked in now. Her name is definitely a familiar one to me.

"And last but not least," Shiro adds, gesturing to the last person on the other side of Allura, "this is-"

"The name's Lance," he cuts Shiro off with a lopsided grin. He has a pair of blue athletic shorts on along with a long-sleeved white shirt that makes his skin tone look almost as dark as Hunk's.

I feel Kaida's tail flick around against my back anxiously. "Keith, there's something about that one-" he starts.

Pidge jumps up from her seat excitedly. "You brought Kaida!" she exclaims, cutting him off. 

Somehow, Pidge has a better relationship with my dragon than _I_ do, so when she reaches up to my shoulders to hold him, Kai goes more than willingly. He nuzzles into her black tank top she paired with her favorite green and black plaid pajama pants.

"You have a cat? That's so cool, I wish I had one," Hunk marvels, eyes beaming at Kai. "Is he your familiar?"

"Actually he's a dragon," I state simply, petting the soft fur of his back.

I hear a snort come from Lance and I glance at him in confusion. "Ha-ha. Nice try, Keith, but there's only room for  _one_ smartass in movie night and that's  _moi_."

I furrow my eyebrows at him. "Kaida  _is_ a dragon," I repeat.

"Seriously? How long are you going to play this stale joke?" he replies arrogantly.

A brief look at Shiro and Pidge shows they're amused at our conversation. "Fine, you want proof?" I smirk, turning to the cat. "Kai, would you do the honors of showing him what you're  _truly_ made of?" 

"I'm too old for this," he mutters to himself, stretching his body as Pidge places him on the kitchen island, but I can still see the glint in his eyes. "Alright, child," he says, stepping directly in front of Lance who now looks less certain than he did before. Kaida stretches out his black, leathery wings so they're visible to everyone now, not just me. His eyes begin glowing a fiery color as smoke radiates from his mouth. His skin begins to crack to reveal small valleys of magma in between. It lasts only briefly until he reverts to his black cat form. 

"Holy  _shi_ -!"

"Did that cat just turn into  _fire_ -?"

"What kind of magic-?"

"He's a magma dragon," I cut them all off as Kai scampers back to me. I scratch behind his ear. "I have draconian magic."

"But that magic is ancient! There possibility of acquiring it is so rare!" Allura marvels, bouncing on her toes eagerly.

"Draconian magic. . .?" Lance repeats, eyes unfocused in concentration. 

I shrug and rub my arm, suddenly nervous under all of the stares, "Yeah."

Pidge, noticing my discomfort, steps in. "Kaida has been with him since Keith was a child. He teaches him dragon magic and protects him. Keith can communicate with him, but to everyone else he sounds like the animal he disguises himself as. Kai chose a cat because that's common as a choice of familiars and that's kind of what he is. He can shapeshift into anything at will though," she explains enthusiastically. Hunk continues asking her what she knows and I watch in amusement. 

As they talk, Allura turns to Shiro, picking a black leather backpack up off the floor. "Hey, Shiro, is it okay if I change and meditate? The moon is fully out, I can feel it," she says and I notice that her eyes are actually brighter. 

"Yeah, go ahead, you don't have to ask every time," Shiro grins. She smiles in return and walks into the hallway. Shiro notices me observing and says, "She practices lunar and crystal magic. This is the prime time for her practice."

I nod in understanding. "You don't see a lot of lunar witches anymore," I say, sitting on an unoccupied barstool beside him. "What about everyone else?"

"Well, you already know Pidge practices tech and garden magic, obviously. Hunk practices hearth-kitchen magic and Lance does sea magic and some weather magic," Shiro explains.

When my gaze travels over Lance, I'm taken aback. He's staring at me enthusiastically. "So, you practice draconian magic? And that's a dragon?" he asks eagerly, pointing to Kaida who scoffs at him.

"Yes,  _he_ is a dragon," I correct, trying to hide my irritation. "We already went over this."

"My sister is  _obsessed_ with draconian magic!" Lance beams, "She has done so much research on it! Man, if she met you. . ." he trails off laughing to himself.

I feel my face heat up at that. Maybe due to the fact that even the thought of someone being excited to see me is uncommon. It certainly isn't because Lance looks oddly cute when he smiles like that. No, of course not. "What kind of magic does she practice?" I ask, pushing away my thoughts.

He smiles fondly, "Primarily air magic. That's why she's so fascinated by dragons."

"Alright, everyone," Shiro says, catching our attention, "who's ready to start movie night?" Pidge, Hunk, and Lance hurry excitedly into the living room that has been transformed into a giant nest - I suppose that's the best way to describe it - of blankets, comforters, and pillows. "Having fun so far?" Shiro asks quietly as we follow.

I manage a small, genuine smile, "Yeah, they're nice."

I sit on the cushioned floor with my back against the couch beside Lance with Kaida on my lap. Pidge has brought her own comforter - apparently she always does - and has already cocooned herself within it, only her head and hand visible so she can use the remote to look for a movie. "So," Hunk begins, peering around from the other side of Lance to look at me, "what kind of magic can you do, Keith?"

"Mostly healing and anything fire related, really," I shrug a shoulder. "I drabbled in a little curse-breaking spells but gave that up. Kaida is still mentoring me on the more powerful spells."

"Can you show us anything?" Lance asks, and I notice his face is only inches from mine.

I blink. "Uh, sure," I nod and look around the room. There are candles scattered about so with a quick, easy movement of my hand, I light them all at once. They both beam at the little trick. 

"What about the draconian magic? Can you show some of that?" Lance asks.

I nod again and sit straighter. Kaida, knowing what I'm about to do, steps into Lance's lap instead to avoid getting in the way. I hold my hands in front of me as if I'm holding an invisible sphere and close my eyes, imagining all of my magic and energy channeling into the space between my palms. It takes only a second until heat begins to form there. I open my eyes and smirk at the sight of the fireball formed between my hands.

I extinguish it after only a moment and Hunk and Lance clap rapidly. I blush and rub the back of my neck, "It's only a little trick. I just don't want to burn down the house."

"Again," Shiro interrupts with a smirk.

"That was only a close call," I insist, crossing my arms.

Shiro raises an eyebrow at Kaida who is stepping back into my lap. "What do you think, Kai?"

"Definitely not a mere 'close call'," he responds with a scoff.

"I think he agrees," Shiro smirks at Kai's assumed response.

I slump into the ground and fold my arms. "It was an accident," I mumble under my breath.

"Want to see some of  _my_ magic?" Lance asks, nudging my side with his elbow. I nod, unsure of why my chest flutters at the top of my ribcage. _He's only showing me his magic, what's the big deal?_ I ignore my thoughts and focus on Lance whose eyes slip shut and spine straightens. Everyone jumps when a crack of lightning sounds right above the house.

"What the hell-?"

"Lance!"

"What did I tell you about doing that-?!"

Lance only laughs at everyone's reactions, clutching his stomach. I try to calm my heart rate, stroking Kaida's back that's arched in alarm. He eases into my touch and lays back down. Not a moment passes until we hear footsteps stomping from the hallway. "Lance! You snapped me out of my meditation!" Allura shouts. I turn to see her changed into light blue silk pajama bottoms and a black tee shirt.

"Oops. Sorry, Allura," he mutters, sheepishly. She only huffs and marches back upstairs.

Pidge speaks up then, "I found a movie, so no more messing around." Everyone turns their attention to the TV as she presses play. She easily turns off the lights in the room with a snap of her fingers and, after she gives me a knowing look, I light a few candles around us with the flick of my wrist. Everyone relaxes then, lounging back on pillows and blankets, taking turns criticizing parts of the movie or debating on what should have happened instead. It turns out, when it's Pidge's turn to choose the movie, she likes to choose ones with terrible ratings so they can laugh more at it. Allura joined us only about halfway through the movie and laid on her stomach beside Shiro who leaned back on his arms.

The two have always been so close, ever since they met, yet before tonight I had never gotten a chance to meet her myself. Shiro talked endlessly about her when we hung out so I already knew quite a lot about her. She was the co-owner alongside her godfather of a rapidly growing company for dream experts. Apparently, they did many things there: aid with insomnia, counsel on nightmares, night protections, and more. That, of course, is why Shiro quickly became her apprentice. He's the best dream and spirit witch I know. Plus, their magic practices are just so closely related that it's no wonder why it took no time for them to become friends. Shiro often describes her as a little sister.

At first, I admittedly got jealous when Shiro would blow off our plans to hang out with her and when he stated he considered her a sibling. But now, as I watch her poking fun at Shiro, bantering with Lance, and agreeing to the points I make when I contribute to the childish debates, I think I could consider her a close friend, too.

When the first movie ends, Shiro excuses himself to practice magic. I know what he's really doing, though. Every night at midnight is when the connection between the spirit world and our physical world is strongest, so even though Shiro can communicate with spirits easily at any time of day he chooses this time so he can communicate with spirits longer. More specifically, so he can talk to Adam.

Adam was his fiancé. He was a pilot and he died years ago when his plane malfunctioned. Shiro has spoken to him almost every night at midnight since then, and even throughout the day I have caught him in his daze so he can consult Adam for advice or guidance on something.

So as he leaves, I tell him to greet Adam for me.

Hunk chooses the next movie - well, he was supposed to but Pidge basically told him what to choose - and we found ourselves criticizing yet another hilariously bad movie. By the end of this one, Pidge, Lance, and Allura had all fallen asleep but Hunk was the first not even halfway through. Shiro came back and passed out immediately, too exhausted from using all of his energy in his magic. Now, it's only me awake, slowly dozing off with my head leaning back on the couch while trying to ignore the fact that Lance is asleep with his head on my shoulder.

"Keith," a voice says, snapping me out of my half-asleep state.

"Hm?" I hum, blinking my eyes open. Kaida is sitting on my lap and I can tell by his facial expression and posture that he means business. "I can tell this is important, but can it wait until tomorrow? I'm exhausted," I mumble, already starting to lay my head back down.

"No, it can't," he responds, pushing one paw into my stomach. I groan and look at him again. "Something is wrong."

"What is it?"

Kai looks down. He almost looks. . . conflicted. That's new. After a moment, he finally says, "My energy is fading."

"So sleep. You'll feel better in the morning," I mutter, eyes slipping shut again.

"No, I mean. . ." he trails off, "Keith, it's not too long until my time is up. . ."

But then, his voice fades along with my consciousness.

I have a nightmare of being trapped in a never-ending shadow, alone and not knowing where to go.

 

* * *

 

 I wake up to the sound of pans banging and laughter. I pry my eyes open and sit up, taking in my surroundings. I'm still laying in the blanket nest but it's all disheveled now and empty except for me. It's unusual considering I don't sleep well. I stretch and slowly stand up, turning to see everyone in the kitchen. Hunk and Lance are in the kitchen cooking pancakes - I notice Hunk is using his magic here and there to help - while Allura, Shiro, and Pidge are sitting around the kitchen island talking to them. Everyone is changed into new clothes, clearly already dressed for the day.

Lance is the first who notices me when he turns to say something to Pidge. His eyes snap to me along the way, and he smirks. "Hey, Snuggleupagus is finally up."

I look behind me but realize he's talking about me. "Huh?" I mumble, shuffling into the kitchen.

"I woke up and you were practically spooning me, man," he laughs, "Who knew Bad Boy Keith was such a cuddler?"

My face turns bright red at that, but luckily Pidge interrupts, "Hold on, Lance. When I woke up, you were cuddling back. Don't even pretend like you weren't."

Lance splutters at this and I look at him in shock. I notice a blush spreading up his neck before he uses his magic to spray water at Pidge's face, "Shut up!" The rest cackle at him.

Again, I feel my face heat up, but Shiro changes the subject while Pidge dries her face using a napkin with a scowl directed at Lance. "How long until the pancakes will be ready?" he asks Hunk, "I'm starving."

"The first ones are almost done," he smiles, using his magic to flip them in the pan.

Kaida hops on the countertop then, approaching me. "Morning, Kaida," I greet.

"Good morning, child," he says, but his voice sounds empty. I give him a look but he faces away from me. I reluctantly let it go, planning on addressing it later.

"So, does anyone have plans today?" Lance asks. "We could all hang out, if not."

"Shiro and I have to go into work," Allura sighs, "Coran called earlier and said there was an issue with a client last night."

Shiro nods, "Yeah, but you guys should go out together. There's no need to wait up for us."

Instantly, I know this is him trying to force me to socialize. I glare at him and he only smiles teasingly in return. "I actually have plans with Shay tonight," Hunk says, setting out a plate of pancakes in the center of the island, "But yeah, don't wait up for me either."

Lance and I look at Pidge and she exhales loudly. "Sorry, guys, but I promised Matt I'd help him out with something."

Her response makes Lance frown, but he turns to me, some hope still shining in his bright blue eyes, "Do  _you_ still wanna hang, Snuggleupagus? I'm sure we can still have fun without these losers, anyway."

I snort at that. "Well," I start. I look down at Kaida but he's already looking at me, almost encouraging me to say yes. I frown. "Sorry, I have work to do." I ignore Kai's disapproving squint and Lance's disappointed slump.

Hunk sits down, adding the last batch of pancakes onto the plate on the center of the island. "What are you and Matt going to do?" he asks Pidge, making up his plate while simultaneously using his magic to turn off the oven and wash all of the dishes he dirtied.

Lance lunges for one of the bigger pancakes, nudging Pidge out of the way for it in the process, much to her clear annoyance. "He needs some help with his equipment at work," she replies, taking one of the pancakes Lance not-so-graciously left.

Lance stretches across the table to snatch the bottle of syrup directly in front of me and I try not to stare as his shirt rides up his stomach from leaning forward. He then proceeds to drown his pancake in a sickening amount of syrup. I raise an eyebrow, at how he doesn't hesitate to shove a ripped off piece of syrup-and-a-side-of-pancake in his mouth. "Got enough syrup, there?" I blurt out.

"No, I'm just generous enough to leave some for all of you," Lance replies, matter-of-factly.

"Right," I deadpan, taking a pancake for myself.

Allura laughs, taking a pancake for herself and reaching for the blueberry syrup, "Believe it or not, but he really  _is_ going light on the syrup right now. He normally has more."

"She's right. I find it insanely unfair how he's never had a cavity," Pidge huffs.

"Healing spells," he smirks, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"As much as I'd love to talk about this," Shiro says with a mouth full of pancake, swallowing before continuing, "we all have to hurry. Allura and I have to be in the office in two hours and we still have to stop at her place."

With that, everyone scarfs down their breakfasts until we feel we're on the brink of explosion. "Holy shit," I groan, collapsing into my chair.

"I know, right?" Shiro huffs, doing the same. "Hunk's pancakes are the best. It could keep me fed for weeks," he breathes.

Everyone hums in agreement, making Hunk grin. "I'm glad you all enjoyed them."

Finally, once recovered from the coma-inducing food, everyone begins standing up and gathering their things. I only have to find my jacket before I'm ready since I didn't have time to grab a change of clothes last night, but Lance approaches, still shoving his pajamas he wore last night in a drawstring bag. "You're a pretty cool guy, Snuggleupagus. Are you gonna come next weekend? I'll let you cuddle me again," Lance smirks, winking.

I scoff, facing downward to hide my face and feign concentrating on putting my shoes on, "Whatever. Maybe, it depends."

"Well, it would be cool to see you again," he says, voice ever-so-slightly softer. I look up just in time to see a genuine smile on his face. "Hunk, are you ready?" he asks, turning to look behind him where Hunk is slipping on his own shoes. With a response from him in the form of a short nod, Lance turns back briefly to say, "Later," with a two finger salute before walking to Hunk.

"It was great meeting you," Hunk grins, waving. "You coming, Pidge?"

Pidge huffs from behind me. "I'm comin', I'm comin'," she sighs, hurrying past me to catch up. "Bye, guys! Bye Keith! See you next week!"

"Bye!" Allura calls back from the bathroom where she's pinning her hair up in a bun.

I take my keys in my pocket and spin them around my finger from my keychain. "I'm gonna head out, too," I say, poking my head into the bathroom. "Uh, tell Shiro I said 'bye'." Shiro had gone upstairs to get ready for work.

"Will do! It was great finally meeting you, Keith," she smiles kindly at me through the mirror's reflection.

I smile back, "Same to you." I walk down the hallway, Kaida prancing to catch up, and together we walk outside.

"You should have stayed," Kaida states, sitting on the curb while I take my helmet out of my motorcycle's storage compartment and put it on.

"What do you mean?" I ask, trying to dismiss the subject.

He jumps into the emptied compartment and glares up at me, "You know what. The sea magician's offer, you should have taken it."

"Why would I?" I ask straddling the bike and starting the engine.

Kaida doesn't respond for a moment and I nearly start driving, assuming he wasn't going to. But then, he says, "There was something off about him."

"What do you mean?"

He's silent again. "Nothing," he sighs.

With that, I kick up the kickstand and drive back home.


	2. From My Lover's Cobalt Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So much love towards this already! I was so shocked as to how many hits this got just overnight!  
> Thank you so much!

It's been over a week and a half since I attended movie night. Shiro and Pidge have been nagging at me about not coming to the one last weekend, but I turned down their offer repeatedly, too worried about getting too involved with them. Kaida has also showed his disapproval of me distancing myself several times, since.

"It's not as if you have anything better to do," he would scoff. I knew he had more to say, but he would never continue. He's been acting very strange, but I decide to wait it out, in case he decides on his own to tell me what's bothering him. Today, for instance, it's the second Friday of the month, which means I need to run to the store for more supplies, which I normally do on my own. For some reason, though, he heavily insisted on coming with me.

"You never want to come get supplies," I squint before pulling on my hoodie.

"I know," Kai states, "But I want to teach you a new spell sometime soon and I must make sure you get the right ingredient for it."

I grab the keys and stand by the couch where he's standing so he can easily jump on my shoulder. "What spell?" I ask, ignoring the claws digging into my shoulder.

"You'll find out, child. Ever the impatient one," he sighs. I roll my eyes at that and head out.

We make it to the shop just down the block from my apartment building and collect supplies. Candles of different colors, healing stones, incense, herbs and grains, and I even grab some teas for the sake of it. "What's that ingredient you were talking about earlier?" I ask Kaida as we walk through the shop some more. The man at the desk sends a me a look when he sees me talking to the cat so I turn and walk in the other direction, lowering my voice, "Have you seen it anywhere?"

"No, they don't seem to have it," he replies, but he sounds disinterested as if he hasn't even been paying attention.

"You haven't even been looking have you?" I blurt out, furrowing my eyebrows at him. "There isn't a new spell you were going to teach me."

Kaida sighs and bumps his head against mine, "I apologize for lying to you, Keith. The reason I wanted to come was because something feels wrong. It has for a while but today it's much worse."

"What do you mean?" I ask, face softening into concern.

He doesn't answer for a moment. "I've been feeling traces of another dragon." I freeze as his words process in my mind.  _Another dragon? Kaida is the only dragon that has been present on Earth for a long time. Why is there another dragon_ now _?_ "See, this is why I was hesitant to tell you," Kai grits out, turning away, "I recognize that expression. You want to search for it."

"Of course I do," I say firmly without missing a beat. "This dragon could know something about Mom."

"It's dangerous," Kaida hisses.

"I know."

A minute passes with us staring each other down firmly. Kai is the first to look away. I shake my head and recognize the basket in my hand full of the supplies I picked out, realizing I should probably pay and leave before the employee at the desk who has been staring at me calls the psych ward. Once I've paid and grabbed my bags of supplies, I head back outside. Kaida still hasn't said a word or even looked at me.

That is, until I feel his claws dig into my shoulders. "Keith," he says, almost as a warning.

He doesn't have to, though, because even I could feel a shift in the atmosphere. I stop on the sidewalk and look around to find the source of the dark energy, while focusing my magic into my hands in preparation for an attacker. "I know," I reply. We see nothing, though.

"Keep walking," Kai whispers lowly, stretching out his wings to prepare himself, too.

I continue walking, this time slower and more cautious. The few people that pass us we can tell are no threat since we can sense their own energies. This dark one, though, is sending a permanent chill down my spine. I turn the corner past a building and instantly run into someone. "Sorry," I mumble, almost walking away until my eyes catch on familiar cobalt ones. "Oh, Lance," I step back.

"Keith! It's been a while," he responds with a small smile. I take a closer look at him and notice he looks  _terrible_. His skin is significantly paler compared to the last time I saw him, his eyes have dark circles sunken into them, and even his energy has been dimmed which is odd. Dimmed energies normally mean someone has been cursed or hexed or something in between. If his still-bright and colorful eyes were closed, I'd assume he was walking dead. That's when it clicks.

He's dying.

"Lance, are you okay?" I ask even though I already know the answer, reaching out halfway before withdrawing my hand. Kaida turns his head towards Lance and squints at him, too.

Lance laughs hollowly and waves a hand dismissively, "Of course I am! But I best get going, I don't want to hold you up-"

He begins to walk past me but instantly nearly topples on top of me. "Woah," I hurry to put my hands on his shoulders, uprighting him. "You really aren't okay in the slightest. I can feel it in your energy."

"Take a guy to dinner before you go feeling his energy," Lance laughs weakly before wincing suddenly.

"What happened?" I ask, ignoring his attempt at a joke and leading him to lean against the wall of the nearby building.

He sighs in defeat, slumping back, "I don't know. It just started a while ago out of the blue. I've gone to the doctor and professionals, even talked to Shiro. None of them could find why this was happening. I've performed every healing spell I know on myself and nothing has worked which shouldn't be possible, my spells are advanced and I even personalized the ones I used on myself-"

"Lance," I catch his attention, halting his rambling. He sighs again, avoiding my eye. "Could I try to take a look at your condition?" I blurt out.

 _What_ _?_

"What?" Kaida asks.

"What?" Lance repeats.

I shake my head at myself. "I- Sorry, I don't know. It just looks like you-" I pause, frustrated at myself, before continuing evenly, "I want to help."

Now, it's my turn to avoid his gaze. I feel my cheeks heat up as the silence stretches on. Finally, Lance says, "Thanks, Keith."

I smile back slightly, "No problem. Come on, my apartment building is right down there." Lance pushes himself off of the wall and wraps an arm around my waist to hold himself up. Blushing, I wrap mine around his, too, with some difficulty due to the bags in that hand so Lance takes them for me. "Why were you walking around anyway? In this condition, you should really be resting, not walking around the city on your own."

"I was headed back from the clinic on twenty-third street. There's a professional there that I saw about. . .  _this_. They found nothing, like the last one," he sighs. I can tell he's running out of hope just as fast as he's running out time.

"Why didn't anyone drive you?" I ask.

Lance hesitates. "Other than the doctors I've seen, no one knows beside Shiro. And now you, I guess."

"What?" I ask incredulously, nearly stopping altogether, "How can no one tell? And why wouldn't you tell them?"

"Insulting a dying man's looks? I'll try not to take that personally," Lance pouts, glaring at the ground.

I wince as I realize what I said. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just. . . Lance, you're  _dying_ , you realize that, right? You must. Why wouldn't you tell your family and friends?"

"I don't want to worry them. Besides, it's worsening quickly - it's only been, like, two weeks or something - I haven't exactly had the chance. And now. . ." he trails off, sighing raggedly, "The professional I saw today told me I only have days left at most."

This time, I do stop. "' _Days'_?" I repeat. "But usually curses and hexes take months at the very least to fester, even longer if the intent is to kill."

Lance furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "A curse or hex? That's what you think this is?"

"Well, what is it then?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "Those are the only things I can think of that this could be."

"Keith, it isn't a curse or a hex," Kaida speaks up.

Lance nods at Kaida, "What did he say?"

I keep walking, "He said it's not a curse or a hex." I turn my head to Kai, "How do you know?"

"Because I know what it really is," he responds, looking at me, "You aren't going to like the answer."

I don't respond. "What did he say?" Lance asks nervously. 

"He thinks he knows what it might be," I respond. "We'll see when we get to my apartment."

We continue down the sidewalk and I notice there are suddenly no more people out on the streets. "Something's wrong," Kaida whispers, claws digging into my shoulders again. I nod in agreement. 

Suddenly, Lance doubles over, falling on his knees. "Fuck!" he hisses, clutching his shirt over his chest.

"Lance!" I exclaim, kneeling down beside him. Kaida jumps off my shoulder and sniffs the air. "Lance, are you okay?" I ask, trying to pry his hands away from his chest.

"No. . . It hurts," he groans, leaning into my shoulder.

"Keith, you two need to run," Kaida says.

I look up at him in confusion and see he's starting to transform his body. "What? Why? What's happening?" I ask, panicked.

Kaida meets my eyes and firmly shouts, "Go, now! Run to the apartment and don't come out! You'll be safe there, now hurry."

"I'm not leaving you!" I protest, heart racing. "Kaida, tell me what's happening!"

"There's no time. You said you wanted to help Lance so help him. He isn't safe here, neither are you. You must go."

I watch in silence as Kaida fully concentrates on shifting his body and it takes only a second for me to realize he's turning into his normal form. Knowing better than to continue debating as Kaida shifts, I clumsily pick Lance up bridal-style and hurry to the door of my apartment building nearby.

"Keith, your-your cat," he stutters, eyes widely staring at Kaida over my shoulder.

"I told you already he's not a cat," I growl in frustration towards no one in particular, pushing open the door and stepping inside. Lance's pain seems to vanish completely. "You need to stay here, I'll be right back," I say, leaving him and the bags in the lobby before rushing back outside.

The last time Kaida exposed his full form, he only did so because I had asked him to. It was the only time I've ever seen him like that because after someone saw Kai's dragon form that day and reported it, we had to make a promise to do it again only in emergencies. It's been twelve years since I've seen Kaida's real body and we've run into plenty of emergencies since, so now I know this is serious.

I sprint outside and nearly trip over my own feet when I see Kaida standing alone in the street. The magma glows bright underneath Kai's gray scales, pulsing a warm light in time with his heavy breaths. He releases a long, menacing roar as a warning, magma dripping from his mouth as he does, and I have to cover my ears to ensure my eardrums don't burst. His claws dig into the pavement of the street and he stretches out his wings upward. I look at him in awe - he has changed in some ways since the last I saw him like this. Now, for instance, he has a line of spikes trailing down his spine and continuing down his long tail that stretches around the corner. He's also grown sharp, jagged horns above his flaming eyes. 

Another roar echoes back from the sky. I look up and see what looks like to be either a floating shadow or a hole in the sky. However, I notice after a moment it's becoming bigger and more clear. I recognize the shape of a dragon, wings spread out to its sides as it glides down alarmingly fast.

But Kaida doesn't move.

"Kaida!" I shout at the top of my lungs, but he doesn't even flinch as the dark dragon slams directly into them. "No!" I shout again as they slide down the street, bodies tangled together.

The black dragon stands up over Kaida's body, craning its neck down, intimidatingly staring directly into Kaida's eyes. It's body is covered in matte scales, darker than any other black I've ever seen. Its body is more slim than Kaida and its tail is longer and thinner. Even his thorns are long, sharp, and sleek, pointing backward like a dog's ears when they're alarmed. The dragon's dark red eyes are the only thing that separate it from being absolutely black. The dragon's mouth curls back viciously before releasing a loud roar, more high pitched and echoed than Kaida's roar. When it finishes, Kaida pulls back his hind legs underneath the dragon and kicks him off hard enough to send him back in front of the apartment building. Kaida rights himself and runs at him, pinning him down by the neck. I notice low hissing noise escape the two dragons and I realize they're speaking draconian with each other. Then, suddenly, Kaida simply steps off the black dragon and it flies off in the direction it came.

As Kaida stands there, still making sure the dragon won't come back, I notice my chest is heaving. I swallow a lump in my throat. "K-Kaida?" I force out, voice quiet.

It snaps Kaida out of his trance and he walks over, breathing heavily. "Are you alright, Keith?" he asks, shifting back into his cat-like form.

I bend down to him, inspecting his body for any damage, "I should be asking  _you_ that."

"I'm okay," he nudges his head into my hand reassuringly.

I clench my jaw and nod, picking him up in my arms and walking towards my apartment building again. If something had happened to Kaida, I have no idea what I would have done. I hug him closer to my chest as we walk into the lobby. However, I freeze when I see Lance's exasperated expression.

" _What_ the actual  _fuck_ did I just fucking watch?!" he exclaims, holding himself up on a column with one hand and the other outstretched.

"Lance, be careful," I warn rushing up to help him. With Kaida in my right arm, I turn so Lance can lean on my left shoulder.

He scoffs, leaning on me. "Are you telling  _me_ to be careful? Really? You looked like you were half a second from trying to split a fight between two giant fire-breathing lizards, and _you're_ telling  _me to be careful_?!"

"Excuse me?" Kaida squints at Lance.

"You offended Kai," I furrow my eyebrows at him.

"Are you insane? I just watched two dragons go at it outside and for some reason no one seems concerned by it! I mean, where  _is_ everyone anyway?" he exclaims.

"He cast a spell earlier in the day for everyone in the city besides the three of us to stay out of this street. He planned this," Kaida says. I translate it to Lance.

He shakes his head in confusion, "Why would that dragon do that?"

Just then, people began entering the lobby as if everything was normal. "We'll talk about this in my apartment. Come on," I say, leaning down to grab the bags off the floor and then urging Lance forward.

Lance winces as we start walking, but he thankfully doesn't look too different from when we first ran into him earlier despite the pain he felt a minute ago. We step in the elevator, along with a handful of other oblivious people who have come back to the building. When we make it into my apartment, I lead Lance to the couch where he gratefully sits down with Kaida and then I go to put the bags of supplies on the counter.

"I'll make you some tea and then we'll sort everything out. I need a minute," I mutter, setting a kettle of boiling water on the stove and turning it on. I then take the new teas I just bought out of its bag and pick out the green tea leaves. Silently, I prepare it by casting a healing and cleansing spell on the leaves before adding it to the water.

A moment later, I join Lance on the couch with two mugs of tea. "This might help," I offer, handing him a mug. 

"Thanks," he manages a small smile, then takes the mug with the hand he had been petting Kai with.

"I just want to say you aren't the only one who just witnessed a fight between dragons for the first time," I say, looking down at my tea. "I just. . . I'm not good at processing things and acting accordingly."

Lance relaxes further into the couch, "It's okay. I could tell you were just as taken aback as I was. I panicked because I couldn't do much from the sidelines."

"Yeah, I felt the same way," I sigh, looking at Kaida who sits between us. "Anyway, we really need to sort this shit out, huh?"

"You can say that again," Lance snorts before taking a sip of tea, but I can tell he's still tense, too.

I look back down at Kaida and ask, "Care to enlighten us?"

The dragon sits up and faces me. "Keith, that was an umbral dragon. He calls himself Draven. Umbral dragons have the ability to steal life source's from living things, they almost feed off of it. They are also able to conceal themselves completely in shadows. I believe Draven is stealing Lance's life source."

I clench my jaw, repeating everything to Lance. His eyes widen in fear, "He's. . .  _feeding_ off of me? Killing me? Why? Why did he choose me?"

"Well, that part I still do not know," Kai confesses, looking down at the couch, "but I believe someone close to you may have tried to summon a dragon. If I were to guess, it would be his sister. He mentioned she had a fascination with dragons-"

"Kaida," I cut him off, glaring at him, "You can't accuse things like that without knowing."

"What is it?" Lance asks.

Kaida gives me a stern look and I huff, turning toward Lance. "He thinks someone near you tried to summon a dragon. It's really dangerous, Kaida won't let even me do it. Most dragons aren't friendly towards humans and you can't control which dragon you summon. He says if he had to guess," I pause, pursing my lips briefly, "if he had to guess, it could have been your sister. You said she's obsessed with draconian magic, so maybe she accidentally summoned Draven and you were the first human he saw."

Lance is silent. I look up to see him looking ahead, cobalt eyes unfocused. The determined brightness of his eyes, even now, is such a dramatic contrast to his entire body even as his life is slowly depleting. Lance turns to me, "Okay. So what do we do now?"

"What?" I asks, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, "That's it?"

"If it  _was_ her - which it very well could have been - then she did it on accident, like you said. It would break Veronica's heart if she found out she did this. I don't blame her for it," he says softly, "So what do we do now? How do we keep me from dying?"

Kaida jumps down to the floor and walks toward the cat bed by the TV - as much as he denies liking the life of a cat, that bed seems to be his favorite possession. "For now, we can only perform healing spells to help slightly. But to save your life," Kaida sighs tiredly, laying down, "we must kill Draven. He was very firm when he told me he would not leave Lance, or any other human for that matter, alone now that he was summoned here."

"What did he say?" Lance turns to me.

"Kaida, there has to be a better way," I shake my head and shut my eyes tightly. "There must be some sort of spell we can cast to send him back to where he came from."

"No, Keith. Trust me, this is the only way. You know this. The first thing people learn in curse-breaking is that the only guaranteed way to break a curse is to end the life of the one who casted it. I know umbral dragons, he will not leave Lance or the rest of humanity alone," Kaida glares sternly.

Lance grips my arm. "What is he saying?" he asks impatiently.

I clench my jaw. "Negotiation," I lie, turning to Lance, "We need to talk to Draven and try to convince him to leave Earth. Kaida says umbral dragons are actually pretty sophisticated with their relations so if we can come to an agreement, he'll listen openly."

"Keith," Kaida scolds, disappointed. "If you truly think that will work-"

"Good," Lance sighs, relieved. "But how the hell do you negotiate with a dragon?"

Ignoring the nagging guilt in the back of my mind, I take another sip of tea and shrug, "I'll have to do some more research, but until I think of something I'm going to try to slow down his curse on you."

Lance nods, setting down his emptied mug on the coffee table. "What do you need me to do?"

"All you need to do is trust me and allow me to mess with you a bit," I smirk, using my magic to summon some materials into the living room.

He snorts, "Just don't do anything to ruin my handsome looks."

I only roll my eyes. I feel Kaida's disapproving gaze on me but I resist from looking back at him as I set down my mug and grab the floating materials around me. I already have an idea of what he's thinking anyway. He only sees harm in lying to Lance, he sees it being unfair to him and not at all advantageous, and I somewhat agree. As I prepare a spell, I start to wonder myself what compelled me to lie to him. It was dreadful having to explain to him we'd have to kill someone to save him, and something told me he wouldn't agree to it even if it did mean he would die. But if he chose to allow the umbral dragon to kill him, the dragon would keep killing people on Earth.

Like Kaida said, there's no other way.

"What's on your mind? Or do you just always sulk?" Lance smirks tiredly, leaning his side into the couch. 

I realize he's been staring at me this whole time and I feel my cheeks heat up. "I'm not sulking! I'm focused," I mutter, turning so I'm no longer facing him.

"If you say so," Lance rolls his eyes and his smirk widens.

I completely focus on the spell this time instead of my thoughts. Finally, when finished preparing it, I turn back to Lance, "I need you to sit on the floor." He slides down to an open space and sits cross-legged. I mimic his movements and sit in front of him so I can start to cast the spell on him. I send some essences and stones to float around his body. I summon a jar of ash from the kitchen and grab it from the air. I dip two fingers in the black powder and draw a protection sigil on the floor in front of him, then after dipping my fingers in one more time I draw a semi-circle around him with the sigil inside. Then, I brush the ash off my fingers and snap them to ignite the essences and stones surrounding him.

"Wow," Lance breathes, snapping me out of my focused state. He's staring at me wide-eyed in a way that brings heat to my cheeks again. 

I swallow, noticing how good he looks with the light of the fire on the essences and within the glowing stones reflecting off his skin. "Uh," I clear my throat, "that should do it. Just sit like this for a half hour or so."

"Okay," Lance nods, looking away.

I reach back to grab a pad of paper and a pen from the coffee table behind me. "Can you tell me the effects you're feeling?" I ask, uncapping the pen with my teeth and getting ready to write.

"Well," he starts, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "The fatigue is what hit me first. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it got worse every day. Then I started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Then I would get these pains throughout my chest. Sometimes, when the pain is really bad, I feel it spread to my arms and legs."

"So earlier, when you collapsed before the dragon appeared, was that how you felt?" I ask, looking up at him.

Lance breathes out a humorless laugh, "No, that was worse than anything I've felt. The pain was a lot stronger and I felt it through my entire body. It was. . . cold, almost. As if someone was spraying liquid hydrogen in my chest."

"Can I see?" I ask, setting the paper and pen down beside me.

"W-What?" Lance sputters.

My brain catches up with my body and I feel my entire face heat up. "I-I mean, just to make sure there's no external damage. It's no big deal," I rush out, getting defensive.

Lance huffs, cheeks turning pink. "Fine," he grumbles, taking the hem of his shirt and pulling it off over his head.

I force my eyes to focus on the center of his chest, the area he was clutching in pain earlier. Squinting, I lean forward and notice a faint marking on his chest, a sigil of some sort. "Did you write that?" I ask, admiring the smooth, fading mark.

"Yeah, it was my attempt at healing myself," he sighs, looking down and touching the mark lightly. "It's a water sigil. It was supposed to at least soothe the pain, but I guess I cant even-"

Lance cuts himself off by scoffing at himself, looking away. I furrow my eyebrows, "Just because you weren't able to help yourself doesn't mean you're not good at magic, Lance." He doesn't respond and I notice he's clenching and unclenching his jaw. "I'm serious. I haven't seen much of your magic but what you did at the movie night was powerful."

"What?" he says, eyes widening at me, "The thing with the lightning?"

"Yeah," I mutter, looking back at his chest to avoid meeting his eyes, "I've never seen anyone do that."

"Well, not to brag or anything, but that was a simple hat trick," Lance smirks, crossing his arms over his chest and straightening his back confidently.

I roll my eyes, feeling my cheeks warm up. "Whatever, just. . . let me focus."

Lance drops his arm to show his chest again but his smirk is still there. I ignore him and focus on looking at his energy. Earlier, it had been dim and dark blue, almost black. Now, though, as I tune into it I notice it _is_ blue but with a pitch black energy spreading through it from his chest like a virus. "Shit," I mumble to myself. This doesn't look good.

"What is it?" Lance asks, smirk dropping and eyes widening a fraction in concern.

I gnaw on my lip and peer closer, checking his energy from other angles, but it's the same throughout. "Your energy is turning black."

He presses his hand to his chest, almost as if he's trying to feel it, "What does that mean?"

"I assume it's the dragon's spell but I'd have to see its actual energy to be sure," I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "I have to search for its soul to see its energy."

"Keith," Kaida warns from behind me. I ignore him.

Lance nods slowly, "Okay, how do we do that?"

I scoot back and lean against the couch, crossing my legs and summoning some more essences to float around myself this time. "It's kind of like meditation," I say, lighting the essences around me, "All you need to do is be completely silent. I sometimes get carried away so it may be a while before I come back."

"You seem like you've done this before."

"I do it frequently."

"Much to my disapproval," Kaida tuts, getting off his bed and walking closer. "Don't do this, Keith. If you  _do_ find him, he will certainly see you, too. He could hurt you."

"It won't happen," I respond dismissively, straightening my back and leaning against the couch.

Lance speaks up, "What won't happen?"

 I shake my head and close my eyes. "Nothing."

And with that, my consciousness slips away.

 _I'm not exactly sure_ _what I expected. The fog is dark enough that the energy I saw within Lance's could blend into it easily and it's thick and murky enough that I couldn't even sense it. But I search anyway._

_At some point I see a flicker of Kaida's energy, but it disappears as soon as it came. I ignore it and continue searching. I reach my mind far away, distantly feeling my head throb from exertion, but I keep pushing farther._

_Suddenly though, I'm thrown off by a bright blue glow the appears directly in front of me out of nowhere. It snaps me back to reality._

My eyes fly open to see Lance leaning over me and I scramble backward in shock, breathing heavily. "Keith!" he exclaims, reaching out for a moment to me but then withdrawing his hands.

"Lance, what are you doing?" I ask, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in my head. I wince, putting the heels of my hands on my temples.

"Making sure you don't die, what the hell do you mean?" he shouts, leaning back and glaring at me. "You fucking scared me. You weren't responding at all for almost a half-hour and then your nose started bleeding. What the hell was that?"

"My nose?" I ask, dragging my right hand across my upper lip to see it come up with blood on it. "That's new," I mutter, wincing again when the sharp pain in my head returns.

"I'm not one to gloat, but I did warn you," Kaida grumbles, his alarmed stance relaxing as he returns to the cat bed. He was concerned but I know he would never admit it.

I scowl, standing up to retrieve a napkin. "You need to stay behind the sigil in the semi-circle," I mutter, wiping the blood off of my face and hand.

Lance rolls his eyes, sitting back down as he was before. "If I had known it would have been so taxing on you, I wouldn't have let you do that," he crosses his arms.

"I would have done it anyway, Lance," I state, taking a deep breath. I use my magic to light some essences around me to help with my migraine and grab a glass of water from the kitchen. 

"Maybe I should leave. It's getting late anyway," Lance shakes his head, standing up. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have involved you in my shit." He steps out of the semi-circle I drew and instantly the stones and essences fall to the floor.

I take a gulp of my water. "Don't be ridiculous. I  _know_ I can help you, you didn't involve me in this. Honestly, I probably would have been involved anyway if I felt this dragon's presence. Besides, my apartment is protected from dragon spells that don't come from Kaida so you're safer here than you are anywhere else," I say, walking back to the living room.

He scratches his forearm, looking at the floor. "Are you sure you don't mind?" he asks, his voice suddenly wavering and vulnerable.

"Of course. I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't want to help you," I shrug, my face warming. I look out the window to see it's gotten dark quickly. "We should get some rest. You can use my bed tonight, I'll take the couch." Lance looks like he's about to argue so I walk into my bedroom before he starts. I grab a change of clothes for each of us to sleep in and turn around to see Lance followed me in. I'm suddenly glad I decided to clean up my room yesterday. "Here, these should fit," I say, handing a pair of clothes to him.

I start to turn but Lance envelopes me in a hug suddenly. "Thank you, Keith," he mumbles, face buried in my shoulder and arms wrapped tightly around me, "for everything."

I swallow a lump in my throat before hugging him back briefly. "Yeah, no problem," I step back, looking away since I know for a fact my face is bright red. "Goodnight, Lance." I start to walk out but stop in the doorway, "I'm going to cast a spell on the room that should help you sleep without any pains."

"Okay, thanks," he smiles.

I walk out and shut the door behind me. I gather supplies and cast a quick spell on the bedroom, writing a sigil on the door to finalize it.  "You're going to tire yourself, child," Kai says, stretching his legs out on his bed.

"That's the last spell I'm casting tonight, I promise," I sigh, admittedly feeling the exhaustion.

I walk to the half bathroom in the living room to change and Kaida follows me. "So, what is your plan?"

"I'm still thinking of one," I say, shutting the door behind us and taking off my shirt. "I've obviously never killed a dragon so this is new to me. What do you suppose I do?" I ask and change into the sweatpants I grabbed.

"For one, don't lie to Lance," he points out, tilting his head at me. 

I roll my eyes, heading back out of the bathroom, "I don't know why I bother asking."

"Keith, I'm serious," he says, following me out. "You could use all of the help you can get. Lance is powerful, I could tell when we first met him. You're just going to make this harder for yourself."

"He's already dying, Kaida," I lower my voice, sitting on the couch. "I'm not going to send him in a fight with a dragon."

"So, what? You're going to fight it on your own?" he deadpans.

I grab the blanket off the back of the couch and wrap myself in it. "No, I still have my trusty dragon on my side," I smile cheekily. Kaida sighs but before he can chastise me further, I hurry to say, "I think I came up with a decent plan, alright? I really think we can do this."

"Keith, I'm-" he cuts himself off, then shakes his head to himself. "Fine. What's your plan?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this long chapter! I didn't mean for it to take this long to update so I apologize. Let me know what you guys think!! <3


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